ffmpeg

multimedia conversion and processing tool

TLDR

Convert video format (auto-detected from extension)

$ ffmpeg -i [input.mp4] [output.avi]

Extract audio without re-encoding

$ ffmpeg -i [video.mp4] -vn -c:a copy [audio.m4a]

Resize video to 1280x720

$ ffmpeg -i [input.mp4] -vf scale=[1280]:[720] [output.mp4]

Compress video with x264 CRF (lower = better)

$ ffmpeg -i [input.mp4] -c:v libx264 -crf [23] -c:a copy [output.mp4]

Trim from 00:01:00 for 30 seconds

$ ffmpeg -ss [00:01:00] -i [input.mp4] -t [30] -c copy [output.mp4]

Create GIF from video

$ ffmpeg -i [input.mp4] -vf "fps=10,scale=320:-1" [output.gif]

Concatenate files listed in files.txt

$ ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i [files.txt] -c copy [output.mp4]

SYNOPSIS

ffmpeg [global-options] [input-options] -i input [output-options] output

ffmpeg is the swiss army knife of multimedia processing. It converts, records, streams, and processes audio and video in virtually any format through an extensive codec library.The tool uses a powerful filter system for transformations like scaling, cropping, color correction, and effects. It handles everything from simple format conversion to complex streaming setups.ffmpeg forms the foundation of many video applications and is the de facto standard for command-line multimedia processing.

PARAMETERS

-i FILE

Input file (may be specified multiple times).

-c:v CODEC

Video codec (e.g. libx264, libx265, libvpx-vp9, copy).

-c:a CODEC

Audio codec (e.g. aac, libmp3lame, libopus, copy).

-c CODEC

Shorthand for setting the codec of all streams (often used as `-c copy`).

-crf N

Constant Rate Factor for x264/x265 (0-51, lower is better quality, 23 is the default).

-b:v BITRATE

Target video bitrate (e.g. 2M).

-b:a BITRATE

Target audio bitrate (e.g. 128k).

-r FPS

Output frame rate.

-s WxH

Set output frame size (e.g. 1280x720).

-vf FILTER

Video filter graph (scale, crop, fps, etc.).

-af FILTER

Audio filter graph.

-ss TIME

Seek to start position. Used before `-i` for a fast seek, after `-i` for accurate seek.

-to TIME

Stop writing at the given absolute time.

-t DURATION

Limit output to the given duration.

-vn

Disable video output.

-an

Disable audio output.

-map SPEC

Explicit stream mapping from inputs to outputs.

-f FORMAT

Force container format.

-y

Overwrite output files without asking.

-n

Never overwrite output files.

-loglevel LEVEL

Logging verbosity (quiet, panic, fatal, error, warning, info, verbose, debug, trace).

-h [topic]

Display help; use `-h long` or `-h full` for more options.

INSTALL

sudo apt install ffmpeg

sudo pacman -S ffmpeg

sudo apk add ffmpeg

brew install ffmpeg

nix profile install nixpkgs#ffmpeg

CAVEATS

Complex syntax requires learning. Quality vs size tradeoffs vary by content. Some codecs have licensing considerations. Processing is CPU-intensive.

HISTORY

ffmpeg was started by Fabrice Bellard in 2000 and has become the most widely-used multimedia framework. It powers countless applications from VLC to YouTube's video processing pipeline.